Defending Champions Lead 2025 Rolex Invitational Cup Favourites

5th September 2025

Afloat.ie Team

The San Diego Yacht Club emerges as the top favourite for the 2025 Rolex Invitational Cup on Saturday with three Irish teams competing Credit: Daniel Forster

The San Diego Yacht Club is the top favourite for the 2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. They achieved three consecutive podium finishes, including a win in 2023.

“San Diego has done very well at this event,” said tactician Jake La Dow. "We're still hungry to keep getting better.”

La Dow takes over as helmsman from Tyler Sinks. Returning crew includes tactician Adam Roberts and trimmer Rick Merriman. This mix of seasoned sailors and fresh talent makes them a strong contender.

The ninth edition of the biennial regatta features 20 teams from 12 countries. It will take place from September 6 to 13, with racing starting on September 9.

As Afloat reported previously, three Irish teams are competing with long-time Royal Cork campaigners, joined by Dublin crews from Howth and Royal Irish.

The 2025 event will be the fourth held in the IC37 class, designed by Mark Mills. Each boat is owned and maintained by the New York Yacht Club, ensuring fairness in competition.

Royal Thames Yacht Club is another strong contender, finishing second in 2021 and winning in 2015. Helmsman John Greenland returns, along with tactician Ian Dobson. "We think our team this year is the best it's ever been on paper,” Dobson stated.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has a wealth of experience. Team leader Nick Burns has been competing since the inaugural event in 2009. After finishing fifth in 2023, tactician Duncan Gregor is looking to improve.

Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, Mass. finished second in its first Invitational Cup in 2023. Skipper Wade Waddell noted, “We thought our speed outside in the ocean was something we needed to work on.”

The home team also has its advantages. Competing on familiar waters offers unique advantages that could impact the outcomes.

2025 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, invited clubs: Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, Mass.); Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, Mass.); Howth Yacht Club (IRL); Itchenor Sailing Club (GBR); Japan Sailing Federation; New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club; Royal Canadian Yacht Club; Royal Cork Yacht Club (IRL); Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club; Royal Irish Yacht Club; Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (AUS); Royal Swedish Yacht Club; Royal Thames Yacht Club (GBR); Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (CAN); San Diego (Calif.) Yacht Club; Yacht Club Argentino; Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (ITA); Yacht Club de Ilhabela (BRA); Yacht Club Italiano; Yacht Club Punta del Este (URU).

Published in New York Invitational Cup

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New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup

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New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup

Ireland has a proud history in New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup, with Irish participation from the very start and a podium result in 2019.

In 2009, two Irish Clubs, Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire and Royal Cork in Crosshaven, entered into New York's newest sailing competition that was reminiscent of Newport’s America’s Cup days when 19 yacht club teams from 14 nations descended on this “City by the Sea”.

The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is a competition between yacht clubs, with strict eligibility rules ensuring that each team is comprised exclusively of amateur sailors.

The competition, which was first run in 2009, has drawn entries from 49 clubs from 22 nations on all six inhabited continents.

The New York Yacht Club won the inaugural event in 2009, with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club winning in 2011 and 2013, England's Royal Thames Yacht Club winning in 2015 and Southern Yacht Club from New Orleans winning in 2017.

In 2019 the regatta was sailed for the first time in the New York Yacht Club’s fleet of IC37 yachts, and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, from Australia, became the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the trophy. And it was in this edition that Anthony O’Leary’s Royal Cork team took the bronze medal.